tinkering with solenoids: can they make music?

Today ''m spending a bit of time tinkering with the solenoids I got in some recent mailbags.
I'm getting started on seeing if the project I have in mind is possible with the parts I have, or if I have to change course. Or abandon the idea entirely.
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This isn't the only way to do it.
It's probably not the best way to do it.
But it's how I did it.

[@kenfuller9907]

My chiming clock uses similar bars for a chime but held rigid at one end. Doesn’t need to be suspended.

[@corkymork]

I’ve used steel EMT conduit hung by a string as a chime sound effect in stage plays.

[@agranero6]

In this video I learned to measure center to center distance of two hole in an easy and precise way. Thanks.

[@DustinWatts]

I think adding a string to the bottom will do the trick. And replacing the strings with rubber bands. Or, drop the tubes all together and use water filled glasses. You can tune them up and down by adding more water or reducing the amount of water.

[@notsofastener]

Rotary solenoids exist. I have seen rotary solenoids used on a Christmas novelty music maker where mice dressed as Santa would rotate at their waist in order to strike a bell. They had about 30 degrees of rotation and struck the bell quite vigorously. There were 12 mice with different bells so a bunch of Christmas tunes could be played from the little controller unit. That was back in the 90s and I was so tempted to buy a set and adapt it to use a MIDI port but then I realized the novelty would end soon after I had my fill of these mice playing the Doom soundtrack MIDI files.

[@steamboatmodel]

Back in the 1970s I took a course in Fluid Power {Oil & Air systems}, we built a music system using small air cylinders similar to a solenoid, but air powered. we used a toy piano as our instrument, as the cylinders split the wood on the

[@hirsutusi5536]

Things to try: 1. Shorten the string at the top. 2. Add a string at the bottom. 3. Adjust the closeness of the chime and the striker - increase the distance so striker only just contacts chime. 4. Add a bigger head on the striker, 5. Add a softer head on the striker - plastic or hard rubber. 6. Adjust position of striker - half way up chime - 2/3 up chime - etc.. - Tony.

[@CyberFoxUK]

Good advice, the one I got from a shop uses string at the top and bottom to keep in place for the striker, works really well.

[@fredflintstone1]

great use the kids xylophone with the solenoids firing downwards onto the keys should be fun 🙂 if you want to use the steel then use tube and fix both ends with shortened wire or cord

[@steveashdown4360]

Tie both top and bottom to a frame with fishing line. Fishing line has given so will allow a small amount of movement. You don't need a lot of movement to allow for the vibration of the note.

[@klif_n]

My door chine uses rectangular plates about 1/16" thick that are mounted using rubber grommets. They sound pretty nice, but the solenoid "hammers" are much larger.

[@jetsams_ghost]

There's a cream you can buy at the drugstore that will take care of solenoids in a few days. You should probably just keep strong and carry on, though. Make some noise, Mr. Stuff 😀 Edit: Just finished watching. Suggest visiting a music store where you can get your hands on a xylophone and/or marimba and take a close look at how they mount bars that can still resonate. Repurposing a kid's xylophone might be the easiest way to get going there. Not really sure. There are probably books on this stuff, but I don't actually know the proper terminology to even search. Maybe "resonant mounting?" Guitar bridges are worth looking at and understanding the basics of. They are a kind of magic.

[@orphanpixels]

Tubing over rod might be a better start. it's naturally more resonant.

[@retireeelectronics2649]

It is amazing how much of a difference a few mm can make in the sound you can get. Both in length and where the hanger holes are to be located. Best sound with pipe (aluminium works good). With being able to adjust where each striker is that could produce fantastic sound. Currently my outside wind chime has one tube out of frequency with an Oak striker. Neat projects.

[@Onkel.Moetrik]

Hi Go hunting after old clocks in your family. There you will find inspiration on mounting the chime. I repair old clocks and I can tell you the chime rods is often only 5 to 6 millimeter thick, and they are of cause fixed in one end.

[@KevinJohnson-je1pe]

Another great video. For the best result your rods should be tubular. Keep up the great videos felo tinkera.

[@romancharak3675]

Use the tubes from old wind-chimes, if you have some kicking around.

[@HazeAnderson]

Good luck for part 2! 🥁😃

[@unclefrogy743]

the tubular bells in the orchestra are struck at the top the bars probably need to be restrained from swinging to much. cushioned with felt but still hanging free. if you want to make it flat the bars wrest on felt if they are the same diameter a resting cradle couldd be made with a drill and a table saw and some felt

[@AJB2K3]

You need to secure the top of the bar somehow to stop it moving sideways and some sort of fabric back to reduce the swing away from the solenoid

[@Elberto71]

You can get a small shock from the coil de-energising when holding both leads

[@davidv1289]

As @kenfuller9907 said, many clock chimes are solid rod that is rigidly attached at one end. That is how my grandfather clock is constructed. It sounds counter-intuitive , but the ringing is a standing wave on the bar and the end is at a null in the wave so attaching it to something will not affect the wave provided the bar is cut to the proper length. The bar length is critical though and is a function of material type, diameter AND length. Regards, David

[@ohmbug10]

This will work out for you. Just a bit more tinkering. You could probably drive the solenoids at a higher voltage since it's an intermittent pulse and won't have tome to overheat the coils. A long time ago I saw someone on KZbin make really nice wind chimes from EMT conduit. Tubes resonate better than solids.

[@UnrealVideoDuke]

The regular common door bells use a double acting solenoid to strike two different sized plates that are held in place like the xylophone in two points. I remember an old Christmas decoration that had several figures holding strikers that rang two different bells each. They would either swing left or right to hit the correct note. I forget what the actual name of it was

[@unclefrogy743]

sounds very much like some kind of a carillon. great idea

[@michaelkatgerman168]

Maybe rubber mounting at the top and center the soleniods tilted?

[@frankowalker4662]

How about suspending the 'notes' from a thin rod so they can pivot, and have them struck near the top where there is less movement ?

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

I think you want to find some tube, clock chimes do seem to be made of tubes.

[@mikebond6328]

I have a few old clocks (early 1900’s) that have a chime that’s made from a coil of steel flatbar. Of course they don’t ring like a hollow tube would do.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

@@mikebond6328 i think that a tube has a nicer ring to it, but that might just be my hearing aids 🙂

[@acehart2]

You can use a pin at the top and one at the bottom, sit it on rubber Just like the zylophone.

[@gloria10be]

Since the puls is realy short, maybe using the 5V. on 12 v. or experimenting with the voltage. Solenoids can take some abuse and its not going to be running for hours

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

hanging distance is critical see leehite extension organization.

[@jerril42]

It looks like the lead could be shortened. Or perhaps if you are into using something already made, some cheap wind chimes might work.

[@mikebond6328]

Everything is already made.

[@shagreobe]

How about fishing line on both ends (won't move so far), using emt, or copper pipe (better sound) in a nice frame?

[@csnwoy]

hello sir. in my own "pile of stuff" i have this chime thing, which suspends the tubes with a simple loop of string around the tube and suspending it, not hanging it. they work quite well, i took a few pics for you. maybe this will help. thanks for all your videos. I was going to attach the pics but youtube won't let me.

[@spidermike3]

chimes from a Westminster clock chimes.

[@mikebond6328]

Now you need a pickup, preamp circuit, amplifier and “loudspeaker.”

[@TerryLawrence001]

I find tubing sounds better that solid. I did Westminster chime using very similar solenoids. My first experiments were with a dollar store xylophone, but I quickly moved on to a better one for around 40 bucks from Long and McQuade. There is a channel on KZbin that featured a DIY glockenspiel "Adding A Robotic Glockenspiel To The ElectroMechanical Visitor Counter" by LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER. he explains the physics involved very well.

[@Elnufo]

try not using a string at all, instead use the hanging hole to put an axle through it. That way it can still move but wont swing all over the place.

[@RottnRobbie]

My suggestion would be just go with the toy xlophone - saves all that time and effort, for surprisingly little cost. But I'm a bit confused on why you went with 12 Volts. They need 4.8Watts (12*0.4A) each vs 3.75W (5*0.75) for the 5V units. Even 28Ga wiring should be able to handle over 1A of current, so I don't see a problem there. But you'll need a 15W power supply to play a 3-note major chord 12V, vs a 12W supply at 5V. I guess it depends on what you've got lying around, but I think 5V supplies are generally cheaper than 5V ones. So especially if you've got to order more solenoids anyway, I don't see the advantage of the 12V ones.

[@ericblenner-hassett3945]

I have seen short throw solinoids ringing chimes. They were mounted to strike just below the strings holes so there would be the least ammount to swing. It also had a felt lined cutout opposite to prevent the chimes from swinging too far. The distance the string was from top of the hollow rods and a hole they were mounted in was roughly a half inch making it a pain to restring and thus how come I had my paws on it for free. I ended up giving up due to how the manufacturer glued the top cover over where the string to each was laid making it impossible to fix should it ever break again, do not make that mistake.

[@NigelsWorkbench]

A magnet at the bottom?

[@gloria10be]

It will hit the rod harder and increse te volume

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

"Give me a Lever long enough ..." But not too long.! You're making a Speaker, think of it that way. The suspension is too long... 4 x the diameter of the Element should work well. Food for thought... Bells are just fancy Tubes... I have a 300mm x 12mm tube of Aluminum suspended vertically between two electromagnets wound over permanent magnets. I play music into the magnets and the tube sings along in sympathy. The tube has No Physical Contact, just floats between the magnets.

[@rorymacleod8488]

My guess is ti go with xylophone ,,, good luck !!

[@AJB2K3]

Why do I picture a row of then connected to tubular bells? or a xylophone.

[@pileofstuff]

That's likely the direction it'll end up going.

[@mikecassap]

Why not try bicycle bells they should work 2 different sizes 👍🇦🇺

[@lezbriddon]

Used the v-in pin on those cheap boards and they are ok at 12v if your not pulling many mA off the io pins, and you think you have a great project for installing in your car, it all works fine until its had to cope with a few days of the cars alternator driving it at 13.7-14.5v and then it dies and your 328 is fried..... those 1117 do not like being in a car.....the spec sheet says yes, real life says no...

[@309electronic5]

The problem is, many versions of those 1117's exist and some can tolerate more than others and some are cheaper chinese design that breaks easily

[@lezbriddon]

@@309electronic5 very very true, 'far eastern seller specifications' have a conversion factor of approx. 1/3......

[@timballam3675]

Ask Look Mum No Computer....

[@pileofstuff]

He's one of the inspirations for trying this.

[@lasersbee]

Sure they can... RC Brushless Motors connected to an ESC do that when first plugged in as an audible Feedback. Watching the rest of the Video I see you are using the Solenoid as a Striker not a Music Maker. Might Work better with Hollow Tubes. Like a wind chime.

[@tinygriffy]

Thanks for the Video. As for Ideas -> I like what Charlie Laud did ;) ... nkL6P55xqdU